Calm
by JumpingPantsSauce
Summary: As things seem to be settling down a bit at the Kamiya Dojo, another assassin shows up to shake things up. Fortunately, Ryuichi, a female assassin, is the one who ends up shaken as the Kenshin-gumi help her move forward from her tumultuous past. SanoOC
1. Enter the Hitokiri

Chapter 1: Enter the Hitokiri

Hello! This is a re-write of a fic I wrote under the name Starlite-Destiny. It was the first fic I ever wrote, and was started while I was in middle school. Needless to say (Being a junior in college these days), my writing has drastically improved and I am here to act on the constructive criticism left in reviews from the original. I hope you enjoy, and as always, **REVIEW PLEASE!** :D

The sun was setting on the Kamiya Dojo, and things were winding down for the evening. Kaoru had finished up dinner and Kenshin was cleaning up. Yahiko had already gone to bed following the large amount he ate at dinner. As for Sanosuke, he was sitting with his back to a porch post, picking his teeth. Everything seemed quiet and typical until a carriage pulled up to the main gate. A tall, mustached man strode up towards Kenshin.

"Himura-san! We have some interesting business for you and Kamiya-san if you are interested." He spoke clearly and with a slight smile.

"Nani? What is the matter, Sir?" Kaoru asked, intrigued that she was mentioned by the Chief of Police.

"Well, we have been experiencing some strange assassinations in the poorer sections of town. Everyone says they were with the victim until the time of death, but there has not been one shred of evidence towards a suspect until this evening. We caught the murderer, and it was something that quite honestly shocked us. If you don't mind, I would like you both to have some words with this person. Kamiya-san, you are beginning to develop quite the reputation as a reformer, being as you have a former hitokiri, pickpocket, and fighter-for-hire living with you with no problems." He smiled.

"Chief, you expect me to reform this guy? I didn't reform Kenshin! And he reformed the other two basically. I really don't think this is a good idea…" Kaoru explained.

"You'll see, Kamiya-san. For this unique situation, I need a woman to be present."

Kenshin and Kaoru rode back to the station with the Chief. As they approached the building, they could already hear that the station was in a frenzy. The station was packed and booming with life. Men were smiling and kidding one another, and some were dealing with families or friends of victims, but most were securing the other inmates to cells in a different building, and keeping the crowd away from a cell in the far corner.

"Why are you moving the other inmates?" Kenshin asked the chief.

"They have been grossly rude this evening, and we don't feel like dealing with it. Also, one of the inmate's brothers was a victim."

"I see…Lead the way." He said.

As they parted through the crowd and came upon what seemed to be a mostly empty corner. All of the cells were empty of inhabitants with the exception of one. But inside was not a 400 pound giant, or a criminally insane looking assassin, but a woman who was neatly rearranging her rumpled kimono. Her long black hair fell past her waist and was secured in a low ponytail. As she finished arranging herself, she turned and glared at the group from behind her thick forelock.

"Meet Yamatara Ryuichi; our newest inmate and by far the most interesting. You see, we found her on accident…" The chief said, before being interrupted.

"Speak for yourself, prick! Damn right it was on accident, you fools couldn't find me had you been looking…" the woman turned and lunged against the bars, but recoiled as she saw Kenshin. "Battousai…" she purred, "Odd place to see you…I heard you died in a house fire."

"You are mistaken, Yamatara-dono. And Sessha does not wish to be called by that name. His name is Himura Kenshin these days."

"Please call me Ryuichi…"she smiled with false sincerity, "And what is a cupcake like you doing here?" she motioned towards Kaoru. The police chief interjected.

"I felt it would not look good doing your interviews surrounded by men. I was hoping she may be able to help you…Himura-san, follow me and I will explain."

"An interesting character she seems to be, this Ryuichi-dono. How many people did she kill? And how did you catch her on accident?" Kenshin asked as he sat down inside the chief's office.

"From what we can tell, she killed roughly 10 men. She was very tricky, and one of the most acrobatic people I have met. A guy was chasing her after catching her in the act of basically eviscerating his gambling buddy. When she slipped on loose roof tiling, she fell right on top of me and almost stabbed me. I took her weapon and sent her to the station with Tanaka-san while I talked to the guy who was after her and checked out the corpse. She has been very cooperative, all things considered." He sighed as he closed her file.

"What things did she mention? For example, how old is she? Or did she mention why she killed these people?" Kenshin asked.

"Well, it seems that she is around 25 years old and it's possible that she has been an assassin for almost ten years, if she matches the profile of a case we have been looking at for the past few months. Her father is Yamatara Tatsumi, an ex-Patriot who has been known for raising groups of young swordsman, so most likely swords are just something she has been around for most of her life. On a much different tone, I really hope Kaoru will take her in. We will need you to safeguard her for a while and keep her away from weapons, but this is her only option if she wants to live. As things are, most just want her hung…"

"Sessha will see what he can do. She will still need to stay here tonight so we can remove any dangerous articles that she may try to take advantage of, as well as inform the other members of the household… Let us return, shall we?" Kenshin smiled.

As they reentered the main room of the station, they saw that most of the people had already left. The remainders were working on paperwork, or packing to leave. Kaoru and Ryuichi seemed to be having a roughly pleasant conversation.

"How would you like to live with us?" Kenshin asked warmly, but firmly. "Your only other choice is to die. And Sessha knows that you would rather not upset your father, ne?" Kaoru was already expecting this news and was not surprised to be asked to house another former criminal.

"I do not appreciate you speaking of my father," Ryuichi spat, "Nevertheless, I will stay with you. I have much unfinished business in this life and many people I am not yet prepared to say goodbye to."

"We will come back in the morning for you. Tonight, you should get yourself ready to not be so snotty to us and be prepared to move past your life as an assassin." Kaoru said, trying to not show her anxiety.

"Oh, I will be." Ryuichi smiled and brushed all of her hair away from her right eye, revealing a scar from her forehead to the top of her cheek.

Sorry that this kind of drug on, but this was an introductory chapter and I have much more complicatedness planned for Ryu than I did in the first fic. I hope you will find her to be as interesting in the future, as I do! **Reviews **always help!


	2. Friends and Enemies

Chapter 2: Friends and Enemies

Hello my readers! I hope you are enjoying this thus far (and if you are please leave me a nice review!) Something I forgot to mention in the last chapter was that I do not own Rurouni Kenshin or its characters, but I do own Ryuichi. Enjoy chapter 2!

* * *

The following morning, Kenshin went into the station alone to pick up Ryuichi. He had sensed the previous evening that she was very intimidated by him, and so he decided that it would be best if Kaoru were to stay home and make sure everything harmful was put out of sight and locked away.

He wasn't exactly sure why they were even doing this. She was not someone they knew, and they had enough to deal with. Sanosuke and Yahiko seemed excited to have another woman around, but neither Kenshin nor Kaoru mentioned that she was an assassin.

When he arrived, an officer handed Kenshin a bag of Ryuichi's articles and walked him inside. Kenshin approached her cell and as he neared, saw that she was standing and clearly unhappy, but off of the killing high she was on the previous night.

"You are late." she growled, "And they aren't giving me breakfast."

"Ryuichi-dono, Sessha is sorry that he was late. We were preparing things for you. However, Sessha needs to know now if you are serious about renouncing your ways as an assassin and that you are going to do your best to try." Kenshin was very serious. He didn't need or have any desire to deal with a renegade.

"Batto.."

"Kenshin please."

"Kenshin-san, I assure you with all of the honor I have lived my life to uphold, that I am very willing to change. Otousan isn't going to like it, but I know he will understand. He wants only for my safety." Ryuichi said with honest sincerity. "However, I know after a while it will become something I crave. I can have a nasty personality, and I will need to be ran over in order for me to grow past this. Do you understand? You can't give me any slack, because I will undoubtedly take advantage of it."

"Hai, Ryuichi-dono, Sessha understands. Shall we go home? I am sure Kaoru-dono will have something you can eat."

As they walked, Ryuichi was very quiet. She kept a stern look on her face, yet was very attentive to her surroundings. She made no offer to run or attack, but this is something that Kenshin attributed solely to her fear of him.

"I also need to mention something. I do have private occasions to attend to from time to time. Unfortunately, I can give you no details into this, but I need to ask you to be my chaperone. I will need to visit my father."

"We will address this situation when we come to it, shall we?" Kenshin smiled. "Sessha believes you will fit in well with Sano and Yahiko. "

"I most likely will. It's women that I don't get along with. I've been around very few, and have found myself relying on the wives of my mentors for most of my female company." she said mechanically.

"What happened to your mother, Ryuichi-dono?"

"She was killed when I was very young. I remember nothing about her, or the day she died. I was there when she was murdered though..."

"Ahh…Sessha witnessed murder when he was young as well…Well, here is the Kamiya dojo!"

Sanosuke and Yahiko were waiting outside, extremely curious as to who exactly the newcomer was. She smiled warmly at the two, specifically Yahiko.

"Sano, Yahiko, this is Ryuichi-dono. She will be staying with us for a little while." Kenshin said.

"It is nice to meet you guys." she said, smiling sweetly.

Sanosuke reached his hand out to shake Ryuichi's, she reluctantly held hers out to him, wincing as he shook it.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I think I may have hurt myself…" she laughed nervously and looked at Kenshin, "When I fell.."

"Ahh, the doctor should be over shortly anyway, she typically visits for lunch." Kenshin said.

Kaoru came out, and came up to Ryuichi. "I have some older kimono that you can borrow, and I will show you where the bath is."

"I hate to ask this, but I would rather wear hakama if at all possible. I typically only wear kimono when I am working, and I would rather not have that association." Ryuichi moved her heavy bangs away from her scarred eye. Her pupil was dilating and contracting rapidly.

"Whoa! That's awesome! Does it hurt?" Yahiko yelled excitedly.

"Yahiko! How rude!" Kaoru said, hitting him on the head.

"No, no. He's fine! Everyone is curious when they are young!" Ryuichi laughed, " Yahiko-chan, the sun hurts it sometimes, but no real pain. It wasn't so fun when it happened though!"

"Really? What happened?" the young boy asked.

"Yahiko-chan, sometimes memory hurts more than physical pain. " Ryuichi whispered and smiled weakly.

* * *

Ryuichi took a bath and changed into Kaoru's clothes and helped Kaoru prepare a lunch of vegetables and bean curd boiled in miso. Soon Megumi came to join them. She approached Sanosuke and kissed him lightly in front of the female assassin. Megumi then approached Kenshin. "Ken-san, I see you have brought in another renegade."

"Megumi-dono," Kenshin whispered extremely quietly, "Sessha wishes that you might be more sensitive. Ryuichi-dono is very unstable. Also, might you look at her arm? It seems to be injured."

"Okay, Ken-san, but only because you are asking. Ryuichi-chan, Ken-san says your arm is injured. What happened?"

"Don't call me Ryuichi-chan please. From what I understand, I am older than you. As for my arm, I fell off of a roof." Ryuichi glared at Megumi. The two walked inside while everyone else ate lunch.

"Looks broken. There isn't much you can do, other than I can give you a splint and sling. So why in the world has Ken-san decided to bring you here?"

"He wants to help me move forward from my current career, Megumi-chan." Ryuichi narrowed her eyes.

"I hope you know that Ken-san isn't interested in romantic relationships. And if I find out that you have been coming on to Sanosuke, you will have more than a broken arm to deal with." Megumi growled.

Ryuichi stood up. "I don't think you understand who I am, onna. I have no interest in romance or sex. I have been interested in one man in my life, and you see where that got me." She said, pointing to her scarred eye and extremely dilated pupil which gave her a look of insanity. "As for Kenshin-san, he is a man who I have tremendous respect for. He is so at peace, yet at his core, he is ruthless. Just the thought of watching him work makes me quiver with excitement…Also, you shouldn't be so aggressive, Megumi-san. It gets you nowhere." she sighed. She seemingly turned into a different person.

* * *

A couple weeks passed and Ryuichi was seemingly becoming more and more accustomed to her life at the Kamiya Dojo. She got along with Kaoru for the most part, avoided Sanosuke and Megumi, enjoyed working with Yahiko with bokken, and revered Kenshin.

Soon a letter came to her.

Ryu-chan、

Thank you for letting me know where you were with your letter. We were all very worried about you! I am very disappointed in your decision to waste your talents, yet I understand why you have decided that. I do want you to remember that I do not think that you are abnormal or maladjusted. You've just lived a more exciting, albeit more dangerous life.

Please visit this week and I will pack you some of your belongings and give you the payments I received for the Tokyo assassinations. I will also make the accommodations that you asked for. You will be missed around the house for the next few weeks. Remember that I am proud of you.

Aishiteru.

Otousan

Ryuichi read her letter and excitedly ran to Kenshin. "Kenshin-san, will you please accompany me to Yokohama to visit my father. I know you do not trust me to travel alone, and I would feel safer traveling with the Hitokiri Battousai!"

"Oh Ryuichi-dono, please call me Kenshin…And if you so wish, we shall leave tomorrow." He smiled.

* * *

Please review, my little readers!


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